NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPING Social - 3D printed products through cartridges of waste

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DEVELOPING Social - 3D printed products through cartridges of waste

Hi there folks!

I´m the president of Civil Society Organization of Public Interest (OSCIP) here in Brasil.
A Corporation with qualification and autorization of the Justice Ministry to create not-for-profit projects
of Education and Wellbeign for communities aroud all the country.

With many researchs we discover a lack of disposal services, manly for toxic waste in large industries
like explosive ones. There is no interest to create cooperatives because of the difficulty of transportation
and to get autorizations from the army. In the other hand we have a lot of poor and middle class teenagers
with lack of vocation couses and professional perspective in developing communities.

We want to technify this youngs, so here comes my first question: Do you think it is possible to
create a training method for 3d printing, for seasonal courses, with young people before College?

The second question is, what kind of material can be used as cartridges? In what form, because
we need to discover how to get to this species of components (or similar) with less processes and
cheapest as possible through garbage and waste.

Because we are a kind of NGO we have access to some government organs, we have something called SENAI -
National Service in Learning for Industries...while we talk about the fun stuff in this emails that are coming,
probably i talk with then to try some line of research to the cartridges.

I'm sure you can come up with training courses to teach teens how to do 3D printing. But it's more important, in my opinion anyway, to teach them 3D modeling, so they'd be able to design their own parts. Once they've done that, the choice of 3D printing, CNC milling, or more conventional forms of fabrication can be considered.

Most inexpensive 3D printers use thermoplastic filament to print with. This can optionally be wound into cartridges, but that's not necessary. Plastic is much less expensive in the form of pellets, so if you're looking to save money and are doing this on a large scale, it makes sense to develop hopper-fed 3D printers rather than ones that depend on filament. They would also be more forgiving of impurities, since filaments tend to clog delicate nozzles and break when there's any contamination, even absorbed humidity. If you want to recycle plastic waste into 3D prints, developing a hopper-fed printer with a larger nozzle than is standard would make most sense.

Hello and welcome here. Certainly the 3D modeling skills need to be developed first. This takes time. Each student will have different understanding and abilities. I would say that if you have a number of kids and a wide path to follow, show the kids the different (free) software available, SketchUp is available in most languages and it allows downloads from the 3D Warehouse for the 3D models.
Another useful program is trueSpace7.6, it's harder to learn though.
The pellets are a good idea, cheaper this way and these can be used for injection molding also, which can be done on small scale.
The pellets can make filament, maybe you can sell this filament locally. There are some 3D printed hoppers for making the filament.
There are some 3D printers available from China or India, just get a cheap one and maybe the kids can use it to make better ones.
Try to find the fastest machine since classes are short and the students want to see results quickly. Good luck.

Thank you a lot Guys for the answers!
You help a lot, i was walking with no map.
Your comments open a whole new way to find what we are looking for.

It´s look like you know a lot about this assumptions, what you can tell me about developing a new prototype? I can order one?

One of our plans is windfarms, more efficient ones...i think their designs so outdated...we want to study better extructures that can
be only designed with 3D printing to better react to the wind, with better materials, do you know Bucky paper? Or Graphene?

Something like a hiper wind farm, ultra light, using the body as battery or Fotovoltaic panel...do you know the energy that exceed is used
to gerate cold or heat? a lot of implications and social products through this (Sell Ice? Lol)
If we can do that with waste cartridges we can engage a lot of industries in a new reverse chain production, and helping the environment and the community.

I try to reach the BigRep because of their simplicity, and the probable interest for more visibility, but they have a terrible channel for contact,
i have to beg in twitter 3 time to get a answer from the marketing, and they don´t put me foward to the development team...

Do you know some one? who really want to work around here? Lol. Should i create a contest with reward?
There is some investors looking around and many Large Industries already in our agenda...i need a pre pitch in 3 weeks...

You say 'developing a prototype', you really should start with basics first, it's a long road.
This Buckypaper and graphene are expensive. Use carbon fiber to start.
What are 'cartriges'?
Start small, get 2 or 3 machines. The bigger printers will cost less later and should be using recycled plastics in the future.
Here are some wind ideas, http://www.thingiverse.com/glitchpud...s/catchthewind